New Liverpool CEO Peter Moore has expressed his belief that the foundations are in place to set the club up for a promising future without matching the wild spending of rivals Manchester City.
Thursday officially marks the 62-year-old’s first day as the club’s chief executive as he looks to embark on mission to take his boyhood team back to the top of English and European football.
“The key ingredients are already in place at this club, you can expect the team to be strengthened, but we won’t be spending £100m just because Manchester City has spent £100m,” Moore told the Guardian.
“I have worked in a company that was involved in a $1bn buyout and it didn’t quite work out. I have lived through a lot of merger and acquisition activity, and what I have learned over the years is that it is not how much you pay but what you get for your money.”
“Everyone wants to see massive money but my business background is buying talent at the right price. We have a kid called Philippe Coutinho who cost £8m, and he is as good as the other guys around the league who cost four or five times as much. What I am about, and what I believe this club is about, is making good business decisions.”
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Reminding fans of what an inspired bargain Coutinho was is a wise way to start life at Liverpool.
It’s all good disregarding a need to match Manchester City’s spending sprees, but doing so is something that has to be proven during this transfer window.
Moore’s words come not long after it was reported that Pep Guardiola was preparing a £100m deal for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, seemingly delivering a blow to Liverpool’s pursuit of the Dutchman- who was one of Jurgen Klopp’s priority targets.
Rarely are there bargains like Coutinho in modern day football and that’s something Moore will continue to realise the longer he is at the club.